Olha Belytska is a make-up artist who decided to launch “Beauty Volunteers” in Bucha. (Credit: Olha Holovina)

'Sick of being like monkeys in a zoo'. Since Bucha became synonymous with Russia’s violent crimes in Ukraine, officials and foreign diplomats come to this small town 30 kilometres away from Kyiv nearly every day. Three months after its liberation, the town is healing its wounds. But despite an outpouring of goodwill from volunteers, Bucha isn’t “actively receiving financial help”, according to the town’s deputy mayor, Serhiy Shepetko.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and UN secretary general Antonio Guterres attend a signing ceremony of the grain shipment agreement between Turkey, the UN, Russia and Ukraine, in Istanbul, Turkey, 22 July 2022. (Credit: EPA/SEDAT SUNA)

Ukraine and Russia sign deal to create Black Sea corridor for grain exports. Russia and Ukraine agreed on Friday to allow for shipment of grains and fertilisers through the Black Sea, after two and a half months of negotiations. The agreement, brokered by the UN and Turkey, ensures safe passage for vessels to transport some 20 million tons of grain stockpiles blocked in Ukraine since the beginning of the war, easing some of the pressure on markets that is fuelling a global food crisis. However, just hours after the deal was signed, Russian missiles struck the port of Odesa, throwing the deal into doubt.

📌 3 September | Ukraine aid rock concert, Arena Geneva. Rockin'1000, a rock band founded in Italy and composed of more than 1000 musicians from all over the world, will be performing in Geneva with more than 100 artists to raise funds for Ukraine war efforts. The organisers are Ukraine Aid, an NGO recently established in Geneva.